Fallout
by Universitas
Summary: Tali discovers that one mistake inevitably leads to another. *NOT M!Shep/Tali*


**Fallout**_  
by Universitas_

I initially wasn't sure if I wanted to put this thing up here, but I finally said "to hell with it" and did it. Hopefully I don't get brutally mauled. It's something different: a response to a challenge on a LiveJournal ME challenge community . The prompt was on mistakes. This was written with Hunter Shepard in mind, but it's general enough for any Renegade!Biotic!M!Shep who romanced Ashley. (Specific, I know.)

I do not own _Mass Effect_. EA and BioWare do.

* * *

_The first mistake was assuming that Shepard was still the same man from two years ago._

"I'm scared, Shepard."

In the ensuing silence, Tali'Zorah vas Neema finally noticed just how different the man in front of her looked after two years. Vibrant eyes had turned icy, with glowing red pupils that betrayed the implants within. And finally, crimson cracks lined the man's face. Shepard almost appeared… not human.

"If I'm convicted, I'll never see the Migrant Fleet again."

"It's a fact of life that politicians are idiots. Let's go find the flotilla, see if we can get this dealt with."

Tali's eyes widened from behind her helmet. "I didn't expect we'd have time for this. Thank you. I'll program the _Normandy_ with the flotilla's current location. The Admirals will be waiting for us."

She watched Shepard leave. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised that Shepard had agreed to help her; this was the man who had given the data she needed to complete her Pilgrimage. The man who had saved her life not once, but twice.

Friends like Shepard were hard to come by.

---

_The second mistake was assuming that he would listen to her._

"Captain Shepard. Do you have any new evidence to submit to this hearing?"

Shepard stepped forward. His omni-tool appeared around his arm.

"Shepard, please," Tali said.

He didn't seem to hear her. She knew that dissuading Shepard doing something once he set his sights on it was nigh-impossible, and the man had decided on presenting the evidence. Even still, some part of her hoped—prayed—that Shepard would change his mind at the last minute.

Her father's memory mattered more than her exile.

"Tali'Zorah is innocent. Rael's team deliberately repaired and reactivated the geth as part of weapons research." Shepard pressed a button on his omni-tool.

True desperation settled in. "Shepard, _please._"

Her final plea fell upon deaf ears.

_"Leave Tali out of this. Assemble new geth with what we have. Bypass security protocols if need be."_

The rest of the trial became a blur, to the point where "posthumous exile" was the only clear thing. Tali could only stare at the man—the man whom she had _trusted_. He turned around and returned her gaze; his eyes showed no emotion.

---

_The third mistake was striking his weak point._

"And now, the fleet is tearing itself apart, because you turned over the evidence after I begged you not to."

"Tali." Shepard folded his arms, his expression darkening. "All that matters is that one of my crew needed help, and I gave it to her."

"My people are in chaos because of what we—_you_ did." She stepped towards him. "Why, Shepard? Why didn't you listen to me?"

"Do you really believe I'd let you jump on a grenade to protect your father's reputation?"

"It's not just about my father's reputation."

"Let me make this perfectly clear. _I don't give a damn._"

He didn't understand. Of course he didn't understand. He wasn't quarian, he didn't—couldn't—understand the reality her people faced everyday, the political tensions that divided the fleet. And she was an idiot to believe he would. She turned around and returned to her console. "You would give a damn if Ashley was—"

She regretted saying those words immediately as they left her mouth.

An invisible force lifted her body off the floor and slammed her into a wall. She grunted at the sudden shock of pain.

Shepard held a clenched fist at her, teeth bared and eyebrows furrowed. His breathing came loudly and sounded almost like growls. He stepped forward. _"Say that again."_

The same force pushed on her, as if trying to crush the air from her lungs.

_"Say. That. Again."_

Tali only met Shepard's furious gaze with a fearful stare hidden behind her visor. The pressure intensified by the second. She finally mustered a weak murmur of the man's name.

After several moments that seemed to last for an eternity, Shepard dropped his fist. Tali landed on the floor, gasping for breath and clutching her throat.

"I tried to help you, Tali. And what do I get? The whining of an ungrateful child."

She kept her eyes on the ground as Shepard left the engineering deck.

---

_The final mistake was assuming that her life mattered to him._

A storm of Collector beams and bullets rushed overhead. Tali ducked behind cover just before a slug pierced her helmet and forced a new thermal clip into her shotgun. An explosion to her left, followed by a pained gasp. She looked and saw Mordin crumple to the ground.

Her fingers darted across her omni-tool. "Tali'Zorah to Shepard. Tali'Zorah to Shepard. There are too many of them, I can't hold them off."

She heard muffled chatter across the channel; communications had to be working, but Shepard wasn't responding. Then silence, as if someone flipped a switch.

Shepard had no intention of saving her this time.

Pain at the back of her head, then Tali'Zorah felt—and was—no more.

* * *

Poor Tali. In my head canon, this is how Tali died on Hunter's suicide mission run-through. The other casualties were Jack (lazer'd), Jacob (head shotted), Morinth (swarm'd), Thane (shot), Mordin (didn't hold the line). Zaeed got left to die on his loyalty mission, while Legion got sold to Cerberus. Which means the survivors were Garrus, Grunt, Kasumi, and Miranda. Basically, the people Hunter liked survived. I had everyone survive on my Victor playthrough, so....

Anyways, thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!


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